RESULTS OF $100,000 TEACHER
CHALLENGE ANNOUNCED
As
regular Muth’s Truths readers know, a very special teacher named Brenda Moynihan at C.T. Sewell
Elementary School in Henderson, Nevada, entered a contest sponsored by Farmers
Insurance to win a $100,000 grant to build a technology learning center for her
school and students.
Sewell’s
student body is mostly low-to-middle income kids “who rarely have access to
computers or tablets at home.”
Ms.
Moynihan’s and her grant proposal made it to the Final Three in the southwest
region, going head-to-head with schools from Arizona and California - states
with FAR BIGGER
populations than Nevada.
Voting
for the grand prize winner began back in October and many of you joined me in
voting for Ms. Moynihan and C.T. Sewell over the past several weeks.
Well,
yesterday the school’s principal, Holli
Ratliff, received the following email from Bob Compan, the Government Affairs Manager for Farmers…
Principal
Ratliff forwarded Mr. Compan’s email to the staff yesterday afternoon with this
note attached…
Ms.
Ratliff was kind enough to invite me to the ceremony to thank all of you for
your support and votes. So even though I
was in San Diego at a conference, I cut my trip short and drove back last night
to be there.
What
was really cool is that all of the major television stations were there this
morning, as well, to cover the presentation of the $2,500 consolation check
from Farmers and thank Ms. Moynihan for her efforts.
All
the kids and teachers were
there in the playground area, as well, lined up in front of a small podium
where Mr. Compan spoke and invited Ms. Moynihan up so everyone could thank her
and give her the $2,500 check.
Except…
It
was all a ruse.
Ms.
Moynihan didn’t get the $2,500.
Instead…
With
your help…
And
with your votes…
Mr.
Compan announced that…
She
actually won…
THE
$100,000 GRAND PRIZE!!!
Ms.
Moynihan had NO IDEA.
Everyone
who knew she’d actually won the grand prize, including yours truly, played it
to the max right up to the check presentation.
To
say she was stunned would be a gargantuan understatement.
And
indeed, plenty of tears of joy were shed as the students and staff realized
what had just happened and erupted in the kind of sustained applause usually
reserved for rock stars.
But
is my book, Brenda Moynihan IS a rock star.
She
had no grant-writing experience before this project. On her own time and her own initiative she
took grant-writing classes and attended grant-writing workshops.
And
wrote a grant to help her students that she never in her wildest dreams thought
would actually win.
Brenda
Moynihan is the kind of person Willy Wonka was referring to when he said, “We
are the music makers. And we are the
dreamers of dreams.”
Or
as Walt Disney said, “If you can dream it, you can do it.”
And
as Dorothy sang in the Wizard of Oz, “The dreams that you dare to dream really
do come true.”
Congratulations,
Ms. Moynihan. Congratulations C.T.
Sewell Elementary.
And
thank each and every one of you who cast votes in this contest to help make
this dream come true!
Here’s
a photo of (l-r) me, Bobby Ellis (who brought this project to my attention),
Brenda Moynihan, Principal Holli Ratliff, Jerry Carnahan and, of course, the
check for $100,000!
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
“The
mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher
demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” - William A. Ward
You can read this column online, as well as access archives
of past Muth's Truths columns by clicking here... www.MuthsTruths.com |
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